@twoinanddone Yes I have. For community service I helped with Michael recovery with our church. I went to tent city that my church set up and helped people. I did give back to my community.
“…debate team won’t get me anywhere in life. Studying finance will.”
Good thing finance folks never have to think on their feet, make presentations where they will get grilled mercilessly, or negotiate a complex transaction where debate skills might come in handy.
Typical 4 year applicants have 3-4 years of a foreign language, some have advanced in math to calc and beyond, have 3-4 sciences with labs, have been in debate, Model UN, a class officer, in the band, in theater, on a sports team.
If you have it all, go ahead and apply to the elite colleges. You asked if your being 15 and having finished high school would be a ‘great story.’ My opinion is that it will not. It is not physically possible to finish 4 years of hs in 1 year plus do all the ECs, sports, community service, etc., and do it well.
You asked, and we answered. You can argue your case on your application.
“key club and debate team won’t get me anywhere in life.”
Ugh. You have miles to go, much to learn.
“What do typical 4 year applicants have that I don’t?” Until you realize what more, you are not ready.
Imo, don’t argue with us. We have experience. It sounds immature to insist, without exploring what it takes. (You aren’t even showing the open mindedness top colleges expect.)
What level of ongoing commitments and stretch can you show in one year of hs? You will compete with kids with far deeper and broader experiences and drives.
The giveaway is you will only have one year of high school- impossible to collect 2-4 years of commitments.
Just take yourself by the collar and learn what it takes.
@tdy123 I shouldn’t have said debate team, but things like key club, Fellowship of Christian athletes, HOPE, and knitting club aren’t getting me anywhere.
So what do you want on this thread? You asked, we’ve answered. The group opinion is that you’d be a stronger applicant with more time put into your education and life.
Have you considered perhaps doing a postgrad year abroad, with AFS or similar organization? This would allow you to take some additional advanced classes in a more traditional classroom setting, acquire broadening cross-cultural experience, establish or improve your fluency in a foreign language, and generally embrace growth by stepping out of your comfort zone. By investing one additional year in this experience, you could address many or most of the concerns that colleges are likely to have about your application: that you are simply too young, that you might be averse to traditional learning environments, that you might not be adaptable in the ways college requires, that you may not be sufficiently well-rounded and/or socially equipped to make your way in a new and unfamiliar environment. I would expect an almost-17y/o applicant with that year-abroad experience under his/her belt to be seen as more of a multi-dimensional candidate that AO’s could admit with confidence, as compared to the almost-16y/o narrowly-focused candidate that they’d hesitate to take a chance on. Plus it could be one of the greatest experiences of your life. Just a thought.
I don’t know anything about the virtual school, but if you were able to complete 4 years of high school level classes - 4 years of math, 4 years of science, 4 years of foreign language, 4 years of history, 4 years of English, etc.- in one year, that will suggest to an admissions officer that those classes lacked rigor.
I can understand you feeling ready for higher level work. That is one of the many benefits of homeschooling - you can put together a course of study for your remaining high school years that meets your academic interests.
By nature, those applying to T20 schools are ambitious. Many of them would match or exceed your stats, and work/internship experience. This is what I’ve noticed, and this is just from my observation, AOs look for students that would be able to contribute to their communities. Now, the question is… during decision time, if you go up against someone with similar stats but went through the 4-year high school experience… who would they pick? Yes, finishing high school in one year could be unique, but what have you demonstrated within that one year that would show your potential as member of that community. A typical T20 admit would have demonstrated leadership abilities, creative acumen, and social skills while navigating the rigor of 4-year high school. I am not an AO, and admission is a crapshoot. However, I do know who I am going to choose if I were an AO. There is no admission gospel. Also, there many great advise on this thread. Just saying.
Why do you think homeschoolers and other high school students take 4 years to complete the credits they need to get a high school diploma? It’s not because they’re incapable of doing it faster. And no, I highly doubt that in one year you’ve built a record comparable to what other homeschoolers, public school students, and students from top private high schools have been able to do given 4 full years to do it. That’s who you’re competing against. And one or more of them may very well have been in knitting club.
Getting into elite colleges is tough. What do your targets look for in a student? What type of profile do admitted students have? How do you match up? It sounds to me like you think you’re smarter than other students. That’s not an attitude you want to come through on your apps.
Students applying to T20 schools can usually write better than this - both on content and style. My kids went to a private school where they had many writing assignments. They also had many research assignments with PPT presentations at the end. By the time they went off to the college, they were well prepared to write research papers and had no fear of speaking in front of large audience.
If your credentials are all true then you are a very bright and driven young person, but I think you could benefit from few more years of maturing (do not mean it in a bad way) - maybe taking some college courses or working with a professor.
My first thought is wondering how colleges feel about the liability of having a 16 year old living among actual adults. My second thought is about the social interaction with your potential classmates and whether they would want to live and work with someone so young.
I also agree with those who have commented about you asking a question and then arguing with the advice you have been given. So my third thought is you know everything there is to know already and don’t need advice so you should just do what you want.
We are a homeschooling family. I have two very different children- one who will graduating younger than I would have liked (she’ll be sixteen when she starts college next year). My kids were in public school until 8th/9th grade, so when my D20 was allowed to start kinder at four I thought it must be normal. Then when she was skipped in 7th grade I didn’t pause very long. Now that she’s getting ready to graduate, I wish I had slowed it all down. That said, she’s had a very normal four years to complete high school and is still your age. Nothing special to see here. My older daughter graduated at 17, nice and normal. She took four years to graduate but graduated with 36 high school credits- she studied abroad, leaned three languages, took classes at three colleges, did research in her field- and presented it, and went to a semester school. She expanded her mind in every way she could find. There is no rush. Find ways to expand yourself so that you can truly stand out.
Wow. You aren’t listening. You are ambitious, I’ll give you that. You want us to say that you’re amazing and that top colleges will snap up someone like you. No one here thinks that. You are coming across as arrogant, impatient and immature.
It’s not a plus to be a 16 year old at college. How are you going to fit in with the kids at these top schools you’d like to apply to? You have a lot less life experience. Even college kids at Stanford want to party and have a good time, and your age is going to be noticeable amongst your peers.
Going away to college is very challenging, make no mistake. My own D started college at 17, and knew quite a few kids who were already 19 as freshmen. Starting college a little later is becoming VERY common, as more kids choose to do gap years or work or even an additional post-high school year. Some colleges are going to have concerns about a 16 year old living on campus when there will also be 23 year olds on that same campus.
Apply, by all means. But I agree with virtually all the other posters here. What you’ve achieved so far is fine, but nothing special.
I’m a little more patient than some of the other posters 
OP you have great scores, are clearly ambitious and you are focused. I would think it would be a good idea to focus on very strong business programs where your ambition and focus would be pluses. So perhaps Babson. Or business schools that are highly regarded but not part of a T20 university (e.g. SMU’s Cox School of Business). These types of schools will definitely provide a path to finance/investment banking jobs.
IMO, focusing your story on your drive to work, and invest (and why you are interested in/what you like about investing) would be best, and the finishing high school in a year is secondary to that. In other words, you decided to do high school in a year because of your single minded desire to pursue work/finance.
Do you have any finance-related achievements? For example, there’s a virtual investing contest and winning, or coming close to the top, would help support your application.
You are clearly a bright, capable, self-directed, and ambitious student. That said, I do see a few potential weaknesses in your application.
The first is that, as other posters have pointed out, it seems unlikely that you’ve been able to do in one year what other highly ambitious students have in four. Most applicants to top schools have four years of involvement in their activities and academic interests. Most have maxed out the school’s regular offerings and have taken advanced courses such as AP’s, dual enrollment or specially designed honors tutorials.
It’s great that you’re a musician and play golf, but what part will these activities play in your time in college? One year isn’t enough time to demonstrate either an abiding interest or perseverance.
The other is related to some advice I once read in a book on applying to college.
“Be different but alike.”
What this means is that top schools want kids who stand out but are still able to mix well with their peers. Will that kid with a deep and abiding interest in fungi turn out to be an active member of the class who joins the improv club and writes exciting papers on Baudelaire while also starting a truffle-hunting group and working in a graduate mycology lab, or will that applicant turn out to be the weird kid who grows mushrooms in his closet and never leaves his dorm room?
One way to show the difference is through your EC’s. If that mycologist is also captain of the soccer team, the class rep to the student council, head tour guide, or even perhaps founder of the highly successful knitting club, it shows they’re well liked and respected.
Right now you have the different part, but how will you show that you’re enough alike your fellow students and that you have more to offer than a very narrow focus? How will you show them you won’t simply rush through college, skimming the surface of what the institution has to offer?
You may be reading these responses and saying to yourself, “Those people on College Confidential are wrong. They don’t get me at all!” and it may in fact be true. We may be totally misinterpreting who you are and why and how you’ve done what you’ve done. But remember that college admissions officers won’t know you personally either, so even if we’ve misunderstood you you run the risk that they will as well.
I think the advice to take an extra year before applying to college is good. Do a year of service, get fluent in a language, or find another way to continue to challenge yourself while giving yourself a year to mature. I don’t mean tat last part in a condescending way due to your age. An extra year of maturity benefits most pre-college students.
ETA: I like the advice of @cinnamon1212, with whom I cross-posted, to concentrate on business focused schools.
I also agree that your story hurts, not helps your college application. It’s not a race to the finish and there is a lot of maturation that happens between 14 - 18 years of age.
I think the advice to take an extra year before applying to enhance your application will be a positive.
What we’re seeing is a kid who’s a good test taker. To the elite schools, this is going to sound more like a GED on sterroids. What these schools want to see is a consistent pattern of going to class, doing assignments, taking tests, and making straight As. High school is an educational maturation process. You blew through the education part, but maturity is the critical element needed to thrive in college. You’re not there yet. The way this is coming across is an arrogant impatient kid who’s too good for “busy work.”
One suggestion, you’re self-motivated and interested in business and finance. Start a small profitable business. Doing something like that consistently for a couple of years could get Wharton’s attention when you’re 18.
OP, did you take any AP exams? If so, what were the results?
@helpingmom40 You realize a 18 year old freshman is closer to a 16 year old freshmen than a 22 year old senior.